To smear or treat with oil; to apply oil to something.
From Old French 'anoil,' combining 'a-' (to) + 'noil' (oil). The term fell out of common use but survives in some dialects and historical texts.
This is an archaic verb that's almost disappeared from English, but it reminds us how many oil-related words we've lost—medieval craftspeople 'anoiled' leather, metal, and wood regularly, making it a verb of practical necessity.
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